Tshibamba came as refugee to the Netherlands at the age of 4 year. He started playing in the Nijmegen region at several amateur clubs before joining the youth academy of the professionals of NEC. In 2008 he made his debut for the first team. In the 2009-10 season Tshibamba joined FC Oss on a loan contract. At the end of 2009 his loan was cancelled because of several problems. In February 2010 he moved abroad by signing a contract at Polish Arka Gdynia for the rest of the season. His good play resulted in a 4-year contract at Polish champions Lech Poznan.

After a half season and appearances in the Polish competition and on Europa League level, club and player decided to change. Tshibamba was send on a half season loan contract at Greek AE Larissa until June 2011. At the end of his loan period the Greek confirmed their confidence in signing the striker on a permanent deal for four seasons until June 2015.

In the second half of the 2011-12 season, Tshibamba was send on loan to Russian club Krylya Sovetov Samara. In February 2013 he was released on a free transfer and signed for Chinese club Henan Jianye. Tshibamba became a free agent in July 2013.

Tshibamba joined Danish club FC Vestsjaelland on a 2-year deal in August 2013. At the end of his contract, he moved to Armenia to sign a half season contract at Ulisses until December 2015. A few weeks later, after losing to Birkirkara in the UEFA Europa League, nearly all of the players of Ulisses were dismissed including Joel Tshibamba.

Tshibamba moved to his former club AE Larissa and signed a contract at 15 July 2015, but left the club at 24 August 2015 without playing one match. Tshibamba moved to Bulgaria this time on a trial with Botev Plovdiv and signed a contract in September 2015 until June 2017. After a half season, his contract was cancelled.

In June 2016 he signed for FC Koper in Slovenia. He received a red card in his first official match against Rudar Velenje in July 2016 after just two minutes of playing and his contract was terminated after the match.

Tshibamba went playing in Singapore in March 2017. He was released from his contract in June 2017.